Democrat money jumps into Colorado governor race for Team Tancredo

posted at 9:21 pm on June 5, 2014 by Mary Katharine Ham

Tensions heightened in the GOP primary for the Colorado governor’s race this week, but the dirtiest move didn’t come from the two men running against each other for the right to meet Gov. John Hickenlooper in the general election. Former congressmen Bob Beauprez and Tom Tancredo are now facing Democrats’ money in the race, too.

A newly-formed group called “Protect Colorado Values” is about to hit the airwaves with two different ads focused on the two Republican front-runners, Tom Tancredo and Bob Beauprez.

Both appear to be attack ads, but a single viewing of the two spots makes it clear what the group, a partnership between the independent expenditure committee of the Democratic Governors Association and other Colorado-based progressive donor organizations, is trying to do.

Simply put, the one-two punch is a thinly-veiled effort to help Tom Tancredo win the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

They’re not very thinly veiled. Local and national Democrats believe Tancredo’s past statements and record will be easier to exploit than Beauprez’s in a general election. Trolling. So. Hard.

The 30-second spot focused on Beauprez, titled “Both Ways”, hits the former congressman for voting for “earmarks and spending bills while the national debt ballooned” and for supporting “the individual mandate that’s the cornerstone of Obamacare”, two lines of attack that are likely to turn off conservative primary voters.

The 30-second spot focused on Tancredo labels him “one of the country’s strongest opponents of Obamacare”, notes he called the Affordable Care Act “a scam” and concludes with this: “Tom Tancredo: He’s just too conservative for Colorado.”

The survey of more than 900 likely Republican primary election voters, conducted May 28th and 29th, shows Tom Tancredo atop the field with 27 percent support.

Beauprez, who didn’t enter the race until late February and has been spending a lot of his own money to try to consolidate the anti-Tancredo vote behind his campaign, is polling at 25 percent, within the poll’s three percent margin of error.

In a recent handicapping of 15 key gubernatorial races, the Washington Post’s The Fix blog concludes that Hickenlooper “does not appear to be in serious danger any more,” thanks mostly to what it called a “weak GOP field” of competitors.

Topping that list is former Congressman Tom Tancredo, who is seven points behind Hickenlooper in the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

The rest of the field — including Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, former Congressman Bob Beauprez and former state Sen. Mike Kopp — trail the incumbent by nine or 10 percentage points.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

O/T – Today is the 10th anniversary of Reagan’s death. 30 years ago tomorrow he delivered one of his most poignant speeches ever to the “boys of Pointe du Hoc” who scaled the cliffs. It still makes me cry.

O/T – Today is the 10th anniversary of Reagan’s death. 30 years ago tomorrow he delivered one of his most poignant speeches ever to the “boys of Pointe du Hoc” who scaled the cliffs. It still makes me cry.

Not for several decades. KOOLAID and the Wolverine Bros are in MI. As are a couple of others if I remember reading correctly. Jackson? That’s where Tim Allen went to prison. Right?

Judge_Dredd on June 5, 2014 at 9:52 PM

I believe so, but I don’t know how long he was there. I was born in MI, with one 10 year exception I’ve spent my life here. It’s not that bad really, if you can stand the southeastern concentration of liberals. I steer clear of it as much as I can.

The only place I think I’d move to instead of here would be northern Texas, but bad storms freak me out, and high property taxes freak me out even more.

I’m mostly single issue voter, and it looks like the GOPe is going to do amnesty no matter what. Couple this with the GOPe’s desire to keep ObamaCare and “fix” it, and it doesn’t bode well.

I’m going to do my research on my local races for Governor and Senate, etc to see where they stand on Amnesty. But if they’re both GOPe yes men, I doubt I’ll vote for either one. Will have to wait and see where they stand.

O/T – Today is the 10th anniversary of Reagan’s death. 30 years ago tomorrow he delivered one of his most poignant speeches ever to the “boys of Pointe du Hoc” who scaled the cliffs. It still makes me cry.

TxAnn56 on June 5, 2014 at 9:35 PM

What I find truly terrifying is that in roughly an equivalent time interval from when it occurred to that speech, the Democrats and the NEA have erased all record of it ever happening.

Hitler died in a theater watching the premiere of “Nation’s Pride”, didn’t you get the memo?

O/T – Today is the 10th anniversary of Reagan’s death. 30 years ago tomorrow he delivered one of his most poignant speeches ever to the “boys of Pointe du Hoc” who scaled the cliffs. It still makes me cry.
TxAnn56 on June 5, 2014 at 9:35 PM

Why would he hurt the ticket? I only know that Tancredo did pretty well for a 3rd party candidate in 2010 and left the Republican alternative far behind.

Red Widow on June 5, 2014 at 9:57 PM

The establishment (R)’s in the state party are going to use Tancredo’s staunch support of securing the border, and his amnesty to foment fear of him that he has no chance of winning.

It’s the same tactic they use against every non-establishment candidate in the primaries. In the end though, it’s Boulder and Denver that control the outcome of the election in this state. And they’re overwhelmingly (D) or worse.

The rest of the state has very little say in it anymore. Which is why a good portion of the rest of the state wants to secede and form a separate state.

I’m mostly single issue voter, and it looks like the GOPe is going to do amnesty no matter what. Couple this with the GOPe’s desire to keep ObamaCare and “fix” it, and it doesn’t bode well…….

Meople on June 5, 2014 at 9:56 PM

…I never understood ‘one issue voters’ before. It would get me riled up if some Demorat would vote 9 out of 10 times for some issue I was against…but people would shit on the Repubican for voting against 1 out of the 10 issues I supported. (Like a Mitch Turkeyneck voting with conservatives 90% of the time)…..lately…that 10%…is starting to give me diarrhea!

…I never understood ‘one issue voters’ before. It would get me riled up if some Demorat would vote 9 out of 10 times for some issue I was against…but people would shit on the Repubican for voting against 1 out of the 10 issues I supported. (Like a Mitch Turkeyneck voting with conservatives 90% of the time)…..lately…that 10%…is starting to give me diarrhea!

KOOLAID2 on June 5, 2014 at 10:08 PM

Not all issues are the same. You can have a spotlessly conservative voting record, but if you raise your hand to remodel the entire national electorate after the model of Mexifornia, you have enabled socialsm with just that one vote and negated everything else you claim to stand for.

You can have a spotlessly conservative voting record, but if you raise your hand to remodel the entire national electorate after the model of Mexifornia, you have enabled socialsm with just that one vote and negated everything else you claim to stand for.

…I never understood ‘one issue voters’ before. It would get me riled up if some Demorat would vote 9 out of 10 times for some issue I was against…but people would shit on the Repubican for voting against 1 out of the 10 issues I supported. (Like a Mitch Turkeyneck voting with conservatives 90% of the time)…..lately…that 10%…is starting to give me diarrhea!

KOOLAID2 on June 5, 2014 at 10:08 PM

Oh, this is the first time I’ve ever been cornered into being single issue amnesty. I wish it wasn’t the case, but the GOPe is giving me no choice.

Amnesty is really all that matters. If the do amnesty, not only will it implode and completely make the GOP irrelevant. But the new citizens and their overwhelmingly left of center votes will ensure we become a full blown single party system of government for the rest of our lives.

I got my flyer in the mail today from Protect Colorado’s Values and it had Tancredo’s photo all over it and said he’s too conservative for Colorado. There have been Scott Gessler ads on tv against both Beauprez and Tancredo when I’ve had it on. I’m getting daily emails from Beauprez. Got a phone message from Kopp. I’m thoroughly confused. I love Tancredo. He was my rep for a while and is truly a wonderful person. Beauprez ran a terrible campaign last time. Kopp has good thoughts but has no name recognition. Gessler holds a statewide office.

I want to vote for Tancredo, but the points raised here about it interfering with Cory Gardner’s race against the idiot Udall have me concerned. I desperately want to see CO pick up the Senate seat. The Dem machine is working hard here.

Not all issues are the same. You can have a spotlessly conservative voting record, but if you raise your hand to remodel the entire national electorate after the model of Mexifornia, you have enabled socialsm with just that one vote and negated everything else you claim to stand for.

Red Widow on June 5, 2014 at 10:16 PM

Me thinks you’re confusing “Latino” with “welfare queen”. And, that may well be your experience in California. Your judgement may be sound. If so, it is more likely a product of the politicians who infest your state. Such is not the case where I live. Hence, I am not beholden to this single issue.

all the anti T.L.Land adds in Michigan
never mention immigration..
most of the adds say she is going to outlaw abortion…
the lefts beloved killing of babies..
but like WryTrvllr said we don’t have millions
of Canadians trying to cross our Borders..

Amnesty trumps ALL. It’s effects will be nationwide. Not only will it further cripple an already stagnant economy, but the effects on our political system I described will last the rest of all our lives.

If you want a single party, authoritarian Amerika, then I guess amnesty isn’t that important of an issue.

Over here in the Grand Rapids area of MI, the big money “anti Justin Amash” ads are trying to paint him as voting WITH Obama more than any other MI GOP congress critter. I just can’t stand the lies. Also, the lies against Terry Land for the Senate race are nauseating. She isn’t all that conservative, but better than the DEM alternative. She ran a competent Secretary of State office and actually modernized all of its functions. Just for that, I will vote for her. Unfortunately, people here in MI have no idea how bad it is in the border states. Having lived in CA, AZ and TX (LOVE TEXAS!!!), people away from the southern border just are clueless. However, the invasion has begun. Wait until the border patrol empties planeloads of refugees in your city hundreds of miles north. Gawd I hate the DC establishment and the open borders mentality.

Not all issues are the same. You can have a spotlessly conservative voting record, but if you raise your hand to remodel the entire national electorate after the model of Mexifornia, you have enabled socialsm with just that one vote and negated everything else you claim to stand for.
Red Widow on June 5, 2014 at 10:16 PM

This.
As for too conservative, wasn’t Tancredo in favor of decriminalization? I’d think that would be a point in his favor with the weed crowd. But yes the two biggest issues facing us are amnesty and OboobiCare. Then downsizing govt.

Tancredo will bring out conservatives who would otherwise be uninterested in making the effort to show up and vote. They will vote for the other Republicans while they are at it.

That’s not to say that any Republican will overcome the ‘rat voting fraud that will occur.

Buddahpundit on June 5, 2014 at 11:23 PM

I don’t think so. Going back to the 2010 election. While Dan Maes may not have been the best candidate for governor; he won the caucuses, the state convention, and the primary fair and square after all the Institutional Republicans self-destructed. He was the official candidate of the Republican Party. But, he was TEA Party. The day after the primary, the Central Committee met with him in Greeley and demanded that he step down as the candidate so they could name a replacement, instead of having a TEA Party candidate. The answer was akin to FOAD.

So, ….. This being after the primary and the final candidate selection, the Central Committee sent Tancredo out to run. Constitution Party was a minor party, which under state law could name their candidates any way they want, but had to have them petition onto the ballot. The promise was, they name Tancredo as their governor candidate. In return, the Republicans would fund their campaign, AND guarantee that they would get 5% of the vote in the governor’s race which is the legal marker for a major party under Colorado law, and they would not have to petition their candidates onto the ballot anymore.

The Constitution Party dumped their previously selected governor candidate, installed Tancredo, and with the Republicans’ help petitioned him on the ballot. The goal was to deliberately split the conservative vote, and elect the Democrat; rather than have the chance of a TEA Party Republican winning. The Republicans sent their donors to Tancredo, offered no help for their official candidate, and they got what they wanted. We had a Democrat governor, the TEA Party Republican lost [and Colorado TEA Party people began to really realize that the Republicans were as much the enemy as the Democrats]. The Constitution Party is now a major party, and Tancredo went back to being a Republican the day after the election.

If Tancredo is the Republican candidate, I [and a bunch of other TEA Party types] will vote for a 3rd Party. Karma. To be honest, if Beauprez is the candidate, I will do the same thing for different reasons. And while we are in that frame of mind, any other Republican probably better have real Conservative and not Institutional Republican bonafides to get a vote.

Tom Tancredo is a political hack, and I would never vote for him. He screwed up the last Governors election too. He didn’t even run as a Republican last election. There is nothing good about this man, and I can see why Democrats would prefer him.

Who are those conservatives that wouldn’t make the effort for Cory Gardner? Are the crazies calling Gardner a RINO as well? Honest question, it’s hard to keep up.

joana on June 6, 2014 at 4:27 AM

Maybe not so many conservatives, but there are plenty of independents who are opposed to the illegal invasion. A lot of people aren’t particularly political, and yes, there are lazy conservatives. The particular brand of independents who are moved to show up to vote for Tancredo aren’t going to vote for any pro-invasion Democrats on the ticket.

Hey, I’m not a political analyst, but this sounds more reasonable to me than the opposite idea that gained traction in this thread.

Meremortal, where are you in the mountains? I’m in Breckenridge. We’re hopelessly liberal here. I have no conservative representation ANYWHERE. And not only that, the Dem reps we do have rig the town hall meetings so that conservatives can’t ask any questions at all. And I can tell you a scary Jared Polis story too that affected me personally.

I live in Colorado. I’m not too impressed with the field in the Governor’s race, but it is much better than it was in 2010. In 2010, the guy that was supposed to have the best chance for the Republicans was a guy named Scott McInness. Right before the primary vote news broke that he was paid $300,000 to write monthly articles on water issues, but instead of writing these articles, he simply plagiarized them. So, we selected an unknown named Dan Maes in the primary. In the lead up to the election, we were treated to weird stories of him never working at the KS Bureau of Information, stalking his exes when he was a cop in KS, etc. He turned out to be such a poor candidate that Tancredo felt compelled to jump into the race, most Republicans ended up staying home, and this had implications on other contests like the Senate race between Ken Buck and Michael Bennett. Even if we combined Tancredo and Maes’ votes in the general election, the Democrat (Hickenlooper) still would have one handily.

As for this cycle, I have to admit that it is pleasing that no horrible scandals have broken out as of yet. It’s kind of crappy, though, that the two leaders in this race are known quantities. Beauprez is the front runner, and he lost the governor’s race in 2006. We could chalk that up to 2006 being a crappy year for Republicans, or Beauprez being a crappy candidate. I hope its the former and not the latter. Tancredo, despite the patriot that he is, will never be able to generate enough appeal to win statewide in Colorado. We have a lot of conservatives in Colorado, but unfortunately, we have too many squishes that he would stay home or vote Democrat before they ever vote for him. I think it would be better to get some new blood in this race, and even though I have followed Kopp and Gessler (Gessler has done a good job on internet campaigning), their TV and billboard presence has not been high profile, and I don’t think it is possible for them to increase their name recognition enough prior to November to get the edge over Hickenlooper.

So, I think it will be Beauprez. At this point my suggestion to him is to redo his TV commercials. They feature a guy with a fake hick/cowboy accent. Not everyone who votes republican/conservative lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere between visits to the voting booth. My other suggestion would be to call Hickenlooper out on some of his garbage this cycle. People are hungry for republican candidates to come out swinging rather than running a “nice” campaign. Don’t center your campaign around vague concepts (“I’m pro-business, pro-growth, less interference from Washington) – that’s all great, but who isn’t. Instead, pull no punches, remind voters of how much the other guy sucks, that our state sucks because of his sucky policies, and that the only impediment to getting better is voting this suck out of office.

In sum, its not as bad as 2010 in Colorado, despite losing n 2006 Beaupreezy is the likely candidate, and if he doesn’t treat republicans/conservatives like idiots, he may pull this out in November.

I think Beauprez runs a lousy campaign. Or at least he did in 2006. Tancredo is running on his name recognition. I don’t see many ads for him at all. Beauprez is all over the place. Kopp doesn’t make much of an impression and I’m only now seeing ads for Gessler. Honestly, I don’t believe anyone can beat Hick. And the only chance we have is if we raise the issue of what Hick has done. He’s been on the losing side of a few issues – the big tax increase, guns. There could be pushback from that but only if we raise those issues.

And I totally agree with your assessment of Beauprez being too folksy. I’d like to hear some of what his ideas are. And as an aside, living in Summit County, we don’t get much attention. Not that I go to all GOP functions, but the only candidate for governor who showed up at our Lincoln Dinner was Kopp. Well, Steve House showed up too, but he’s bowed out of the race.

I just think we need to focus on getting rid of Udall. Hard to beat the gubernatorial candidate who appeared cool by jumping out of airplanes. My humble opinion.

Tom Tancredo is a political hack, and I would never vote for him. He screwed up the last Governors election too. He didn’t even run as a Republican last election. There is nothing good about this man, and I can see why Democrats would prefer him.

lea on June 6, 2014 at 7:04 AM

The Establishment agrees.

Tancredo is a patriot and staunchly anti-amnesty. Glad to see he’s getting back into politics.

This isn’t even about the CO governor’s race, per se. The idea is to get Tancredo on the ticket in order to hurt Cory Gardener’s chances against Udall in the CO-SEN race.

Esoteric on June 5, 2014 at 9:36 PM

Love a good conspiracy theory!

In any event, seeing as how the Democrats will take back the Senate in 2016, I couldn’t care less if the GOP takes control in 2014 so TOTUS (and the media) can blame a GOP congress for the following two years.

Tancredo is a leader. Let’s hope the people of Colorado aren’t too stoned to realize it.

This isn’t just a coloradan problem.
The GOPe is weak.
And stupid.
Nationwide.

Especially in Colorado.

Here is the GOP plan for the last 6 years;

1.) Elect the most uber-far-right Social issues conservative, think Westburo Baptist church type views.
2.) Lose in the general election.
3.) Repeat as often as necessary to get your point across that you are a complete Troglodyte on Social issues ignoring the fact that general populace of the state has moderated it’s position.

There is 0% chance the the GOP will displace the Governor or Senator in November of this year, even though both of these officials deserve to be sent packing. It’s entirely possible that no Republican will win a state wide election for some time…